Each Parliamentary seat is expected to see at least a 4-cornered fight, making the GE15 as the most tightly contested election Malaysia has ever seen

THE battle is on.

On the eve of the 15th General Election (GE15) nomination day, the purported coalitions of political parties were finally officialised to create the great Malaysian multi-cornered rivalry.

With 222 Parliamentary seats up for grab, more than 945 pretenders from the main political blocs, excluding the independent candidates and solo parties, are offering themselves to serve the rakyat, nation and King.

Each Parliamentary seat is expected to see at least a four-cornered fight, making the GE15 as the most tightly contested election Malaysia has ever seen.

Barisan Nasional (BN), previously vanquished in GE14 with only 79 seats retained and left by party-hoppers to barely keep 43 seats prior to dissolution of Parliament, is contesting in 178 constituencies. Pakatan Harapan (PH), GE14’s biggest victor with 206 seats who saw its interest splintered with 90 seats left, is challenging at 206 Parliamentary seats. Perikatan Nasional (PN) — itself a splinter unit off PH with 46 seats — is contesting in 149 areas. The recently formed Gabungan Tanah Air (GTA), yet another chip off the PH/PN bloc, is vying for 116 Parliamentary seats.

Meanwhile, in East Malaysia, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) await in the wings, accompanied by soloist Parti Warisan Sabah and the peninsular’s Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), to latch on to the victor in fulfilling their self-proclaimed destiny as kingmakers.

Most parties stayed true to their earlier admission that against the backdrop of a fragile economic recovery, their manifestos would be focused on bread-and-butter issues of increasing cost of living, jobs, education and affordable housing.

The previous issues of corruption and administrative abuse of power, which have brought down the BN administration, are being downplayed by all except the GTA, led by statesman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The rest admitted that it has taken a back seat as rakyat had to contend with the economic fallout of the two-year Covid lockdowns.

One former leader of PH lamented that all party presidents are nominating their Yes Men and loyalists as everyone seems to have accepted the fact that no one party could dominate or secure simple majority to unequivocally form the government like the GEs of old.

To secure power, these individual parties who have formed their own distinctive coalitions, will need to break rank with their GE15 partners and independently negotiate with other parties for power sharing. Cognisant of the public furore over individual party-hopping, the party presidents are lining their party leadership with loyalist to facilitate alignments post-GE.

Post-GE15, be it Umno or PKR or Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or DAP or PAS; the political parties will need to work with another party from other coalitions. Taking a risk of an internal opposition against working with other parties will not serve them any good.

GE15 is not the end of the political power brokering but merely the mark of a new scheme.

Asuki Abas is the editor at The Malaysian Reserve.